Safety hand-hole cover for steam-boilers and air and oil reservoirs.



F. A. GRIFFIN.

SAFETY HAND HOLE COVER FOR STEAM BOILERS AND AIR AND OIL RESERVOIRS.APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, 1914.

1,1 9%,41'7. Patented July25,191(3.

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. Reservoirs, of which the following is a speci-,

I Twill enrrrimor 1103mm. nnw-vonxfl' .sArE'rY Benn-gonnoovnn nonSTEAM-301L338 Ann Am AND on. nnsrinvents;

To all whom it'may concern:

Be it known that 'I, FRANK AGmm, a citizen-of the United States, residinat Hornell, inothe county of Steuben and tate of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Safety Hand-Hole Covers forSteam-Boilers and Air 'andOil fication, reference being had therein tothe accompanying drawing.

- My present invention. relates to certain new and-useful improvementsin covers" for .ing my invention:

hand-hole openings in the walls of boilers, air or oil reservoirs, andother repectacles, compartments or tanks of various kmds, the

object being to enable easy access to be-had' to the tubes or fittingswithin the boiler for the purposes of cleaning, blowing out, etc.

One special purpose of my improved in.

vention is to provide a safety hand-hole cover for the boiler sheetcontiguous to the water tubes which support the arches in'the fireboxesof locomotive and. stationary en gines so that the .tubes may beexamined with ease and safety.

The invention comprises numerous details and peculiarities in theconstruction-,- ar-' rangement and combination of the yarious arts,substantially as will beherei'nafter escrlbed and then more particularlypointed out in the claims.

In the accompanyin drawing illustratsectional view of a portion of aboiler wall and arch tube attached thereto and showing the position andarrangement of my improved safety hand-hole cover. Fig.2 is a detailview showing the ovalv opening which receives the cover. Fig.3 isaninner elevation showing the hand-hole cover in position, but withthenut removed. Fig.

4 is a horizontal section on the line 4, 4 of Fig. 6. Fig. 5 isa-vertical section on the line 5, 5 of. Fig. 6. Fig. 6. is an outerelevational view of the parts of my improved invention as they appear,from the outside, Fig. 7 is a mod fied of the boiler. wall.

sectional view of the invention. I

Similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughoutthe different figuresof the drawing.

In order to show one way of applying my invention to practical use, thesame being simply for the sake of illustration, I have delineated inFig. 1 a part of a boiler wall Specification oi letters Patent. -.ip1mmn filed as re, 1914 'senalno. 838,426.:

igure 1 1s a, detailv Patented July 2 5; ie e."

havingv the outer sheet'l and the inner sheet ;2,' 'while' 3 denotesanarch tube which is connectedto the inner sheet 2; It is,.how'- ever,.necessary that tubes like the tube 3, should bejeasy of access fromwithout the a removable cover. ".While I have shown the boiler;wall'Tandarch tube, it should be understood that I hav'e done so forexplanaltory purposes only andwith no idea of being co'nfined'th'ereto,inasmuch as the invention boiler for inspection," cleaning, etc., and

is'useful with all kinds of; boilers and air orv oil or fluidpressuretanks, reservoirs, etc.

" Proceedingnow .to describe the details of the. invention, I firststate that the wall of the boller, as for instance the outer sheet 1,

orthe wall of any other receptacle, is provlded with an opening 4, whichis of oval or oblong form, that is to say, of'a form which has the axisin one direction longer than it is in the other direction, so that theopening is accordingly. elongated. This opening ,4

is directly opposite to the arch tube 3, or is otherwiseso located astopermit access at the desired point. The cover for said oval o ening 4consists of an oval plate 6 provided with "a flange 7 which forms arabbet 8, and provided with a central inwardly projecting-boss or shank9 which'is externally screw-threaded at 10 to receive thereon anut 11.The covert is inserted through. the opening 4 from the outside byturning the same flatwise andpassing it endwise through the oval opening4:,retaining hold at the .same time of the boss 9' so that it may beshifted around with the hand from the outside an'd'brought into aposition where the flange ,7 fits tightly against the inside face of Ithe boiler sheet 1 immediately around the opening 4 and the rabbet 8engagesthe edge of the opening 4 as clearly shown in Figs. 4

, ice and 5.- In order to enable the cover 6 tabs I more easilyturnedwhen it is being inserted f throu h the opening4,'the edges thereof areslight y beveledat .18 as seen in 5. Ordinarily, I employ a cop er orother gasket1'2 between theflange and the boiler plate 1. After thecover 6 has thus been placed in gxosition with its rabbetededge-8engaging t e edge of the oval opening 4 and with the shank or boss 9projecting outwardly through the opening 4 and centrally therein, asshown 111 Fig. 1 and also in Figs.

4 and 5, the nut 11 can bescrewed" upon the sheet 1 close to the opening4-,-i saidrib enabling' a tighter jointto be effected than if it wereomitted and the flat face of the nut] was turned up against the sheet1.! It will thus be seen that the nut by screwing'upon: the boss ofthecover 6 will form a very tight and eflicient locking combination, theparts being tightly and securely held together. Ordinarily thehand-holecover 6 will'be provided with a central passage 14, which inthe case of the arch tube construction will be opposite to said tube-'3,and the outer end of the passage 14 is slightly tapered or. beveled at15, said beveled portion of; the opening being furnished with acorrespondingly tapered plug 16 having a headl? thereon and adapted tobe screwed tightlyv into the opening for the purpose of closing thepassage in the hand-hole cover. The screw plug can'be removed wheneverdesiredto permit access to the interior ofthe boiler .wall whenever itis not necessaryto remove the hand-hole cover, as will often be thecase. 'After the hand-holecoverand nut have been securely fastenedtogether, the tapered screw plug can be fixed in place. and the resultis a perfect closing of the opening 14. p

A modification of the invention is shown in Fig.7 where it is indicatedas applied to a corner of the boiler'wall, or to acurved surface. Theonly change in the device when it is applied to rounding or curvedsurfaces instead of fiat surfaces,is a corre sponding change in thecurvature of the cover so that it may conform to the shape of the wall,and sometimes the employment of a washer between the nut and the wall towhich the cover is applied. In-Fig. 7 the cover 6' is shown having theflan e 7 which. seats agamst the inner-surface o ,the boiler plate 1.Said cover 6 base shank 9 which s screw-threaded to receive thenut 11hav-' ing'rib 13. Between nut 11' and the wall is a'lvirasher 2Osurrounding the shank 9 and said washer has a curved face ,21 whichconforms to the shape of the wall 1. The

cover 6, is provided with a passage 14 ordinaril'y and also with ascrewplug 16.

I Man changes inthe precise construction and arrangement of the variousparts may be made without exceeding the scope of the claimsfor departingfrom the principles of 7 my invention.

.Havingthus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by "Letters Patent, is:

. Inasafety hand hole cover, the combination with a wall or plate havingan oval opening, of a correspondingly --shaped flanged cover having acentral passage running through the same from one side to the other, anda screw-threaded boss around the outer end of said passage, the insideof the passage being also screw-threaded for a distance, said coverbeing adapted to be passed }-through theoval opening from the outsideandturnedby hand and caused to fit snugly over the opening on theinside, a nut screwing upon the screwbreadedboss and against the outsideface of the wall, anda removable screw plug in the central passage.

.2. In a safety hand hole cover, the combination with. a wall or platehaving an oval opening, of a. correspondingly-shaped flanged coverhaving a central passage running through the same from one side to theother, and a screw-threaded boss around the'outer end of said passage,the inside of the passage being also screw-threaded and:

tapered for a distance, said cover being adapted to be passed throughthe ovel opening from the outside and turned by hand and caused to fitsnugly over the opening on the inside, a nut screwing upon thescrew-threaded boss and against the outside face of the wall, and aremovable tapered screwplug in the-central passage.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature 7 in the presence of twowitnesses. I

. FRANK A. GRIFFIN;

Witnesses; Emma J. AUs'rm,.. E. M. Barman.

